


this bench in central park

by kingofsoftstyle



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Domestic, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, probably
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 09:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19664521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingofsoftstyle/pseuds/kingofsoftstyle
Summary: who'd have thought steve harrington would be attending college in new york, and living with a boy.





	this bench in central park

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't watched season 3 oops. you ever have a story you haven't updated in months and instead of working on that you write a completely separate story?

Getting accepted into NYU was a dream come true for Steve. After Jonathan announced that he got accepted into the school and was going to be a proud art history major, Steve was terrified that he wouldn’t be accepted. Being a star baseball player and having letters of recommendation from three teachers testifying that he’s “Exceptional with kids and a friend to all teachers and students” and that he “Has an unbelievable amount of charm and charisma” wasn’t enough to get him into a private school (though he did apply to almost every college in New York city just to cover his bases). When he was given a baseball scholarship he almost cried.

Watching a bunch of 14 year old bastards run around in the snow in Central Park was another dream come true for Steve. A weird dream for sure, but an unbelievably happy one. It was winter break and if Steve was being honest, he’d rather do anything then go back to Hawkins. When he brought the idea up to Jonathan he had been weary.

“Steve my mom can’t pay to fly up here. She probably can’t even pay for the gas to drive up here.”

“I’ll pay! My parents are paying for our first year of rent, I have extra money from my paychecks.”

“My mom will never accept that and you know it, Steve,” Jonathan sighed in exasperation. One of Steve’s most  _ endearing  _ qualities was his ability to exasperate. Fortunately for them, one of his other great qualities was his persuasiveness. Steve called Joyce after Jonathan had left for work to ask how her, Hopper and all the kids would feel about a vacation in New York City. He almost talked her head off about how great a vacation away from Hawkins would be for her and all the kids, it wouldn’t even have to be during the week of Christmas. That Steve would pay for a greyhound or even a plane ticket, no problem. It took about an hour of convincing but Joyce agreed. Her, Hopper, Will, El, Dustin, Mike, Max and Lucas would all come to NYC for a week for New Years (Steve didn’t want to know how she managed to convince their parents). Steve expected Jonathan to be excited about his family coming to visit. Though he honestly should have expected his boyfriend to be pissed off by Steve’s actions. When Jonathan got home that night Steve excitedly told him about how Joyce and Hopper and all of the kids were coming over to spend New Years with them and all he got was an earful.

“Where do you expect my mom to get the money to pay for this! Where do you expect us to pay for this!” Jonathan yelled.

“I told her I would pay for the whole thing! I have extra money and can easily pay for hotel rooms and transportation, but your mom told me she wasn’t a charity case. Her and Hopper are paying for a train and I’m paying for the hotel,” Steve turned his attention back to the frozen pizza he was about to put in the oven, “Y’know, she really laid into me when I offered to pay for the whole trip. She’s-”

“Steve you can’t just do this! I said not to and you went behind my back and did it anyway! My mom can’t pay for this she probably just felt pressured to come. She already has to pay for my college. I’m calling her and telling her not to come,” Steve grabbed the phone out of Jonathan’s hands before he could dial the number. He set the phone down on the dock and wrapped his arms around Jonathan’s waist, trying to stare through his angry pout.

“Hey,” Steve started, “It’s fine. It’s the holiday season, you don’t think your mom wants to see her kid? She’ll be okay, we’ll be okay. Take it as one week where you don’t have to worry about that shit.”

Jonathan usually hated admitting when Steve was right but he would have a hard time arguing with him while they were sitting on this bench in Central Park. All the kids spent the night in the living room of their small one bedroom the night before, this morning Jonathan had to make rounds of french toast for six pre-teens while Steve helped them rebuild their fort and figure out what movie they were going to go see later. They had no plans on leaving the apartment for hours until Joyce and Hopper knocked on the door to let them know that it had started snowing again. Jonathan took great pleasure in watching Steve not-so-subtly dote over the kids as they were getting ready to go out in the snow. His mother hen behavior was even more adorable when it was turned on Jonathan. 

“Hey Steve! Look!” Dustin yelled across the snow-covered field and pointed to a poorly made snowman with a droopy face and weirdly shaped head, “Its you!” Steve responded by merely lifting his middle finger at the kid.

“Wow. You really do have a great relationship with them,” Jonathan said as he adjusted his camera in his lap. The two were sitting at a respectable distance on the bench. They had a good 3 inches of space between them, enough so that no one would be suspicious. 

“Yeah. I got them wrapped around my finger.”  
Jonathan nodded, “They’re wrapped around your finger huh? I forgot it was Will who blew me off three weeks in a row because he was busy giving you rides around town.”

Steve hit his boyfriend on the back of the head, knocking his hat off and onto the ground. The bastard had the audacity to still be laughing at him when he leaned back up after retrieving it. Jonathan let a few minutes pass before breaking the easy silence.

“I'm sad Nancy couldn’t come.”

“Can you blame her? I’d take California over all this snow any day of the week.”

“Yeah we definitely can’t afford that.”

Steve watched Jonathan for a little longer than what would be considered friendly. He looked adorable all bundled up. His cheeks and nose were bright red and Steve decided that cold was a really good look on him. Never one for modesty, Steve really didn’t appreciate having to sit next to his boyfriend and not be able to proclaim to everyone that they were dating. He looked around the immediate area of the park for strangers but the only people within his eyesight were his family. Feeling brave, he gently pushed the side of Jonathan’s face toward him and leaned in. The kiss was sweet, quick, blink and you’d miss it, but Jonathan looked horrified. Steve was quick to grab his hand and reassure him, “Babe it’s fine, we’re the only idiots out here. We’re safe. I couldn’t help myself,”

“Please don’t ever do that again. You almost gave me a heart attack.”

Steve gave him his best puppy dog eyes, “Sorry Jonny. How will you ever forgive me?”

“Make dinner tonight.”

“Take out it is!”

“Hey lovebirds!” The voice was from Max and Steve was about to give her a lesson in discretion when a snowball hit him in the face.

Steve wiped the snow off his face and stood up, “Oh you’re dead! Sorry babe, I have to beat the shit out of some children.”

“Duty calls,” Jonathan smiled, "Wait."

Steve stopped a few feet in front of him and Jonathan snapped a photo of him standing bewildered in the snow. Steve gave him a dazzling smile that Jonathan wished he could have captured before running off.


End file.
